Christmas Decorations on a Shop in Dublin City

I've had a busy month, and I haven't been able to get out shooting for one reason or another. I've been doing some animation work this last few weeks, and so I've been stuck in-front of my computer for much of the time. The few days I've had off, the weather hasn't been great. It's funny, but every time I'm away from shooting for any length of time (even more than a few days) I start to get antsy. Some would probably call this an addiction, but I prefer to think of it as knowing what your true calling is. When you can feel it in your bones, you know you're doing what you're supposed to be doing.

This last Sunday, I managed to combine some time away from my screen with some beautiful winter sunshine and I hopped on the tram into the centre of Dublin city for some street shooting. I've said it before, but the winter light in Ireland is amazing. Well, when it's not raining. You get long mornings of low sunshine, which creates wonderful deep shadows. Anyway, I didn't really set out to achieve anything special, I just wanted to shoot. Sometimes you need to do that, especially if you're in a creative rut. It helps to shoot for just you, and embrace uncertainty and see where the wind takes you.

I ended up having a very enjoyable few hours. The wind was cold, and the air was cold, but the sun was warm, and the Christmas decorations are going up. I shot around the city for a little while, between capturing people and random details (I have a thing for random details!). It was good to get back out. It was good to look through the lens. Even though it was only a short time, it had called me and I was glad to answer.

Gear wise, I went with relative simplicity. I brought my Canon 5D Mark II and my 50mm lens, and also my 75-300 lens. I wanted to get some close up shots of the decorations, so that's why I brought my long lens. Otherwise I'd just gone with the 50mm. The reason I chose the 5D is that I like the colours in this light, and also, when combined with VSCO Film, gives lovely film like images. It seems to work the best of all my cameras with VSCO Film.

Incidentally, even though I do shoot with mirrorless a lot, I do still love shooting with my DSLRs too. I just find it somewhat liberating. The connection you get with a scene when shooting through an optical viewfinder is something special, and I don't find that same feeling even with the best of EVFs. With an EVF it's like you're looking at the scene through a security camera, and observing from a distance. With an optical viewfinder, it's like you're part of it but still separate. I bit philosophical, I know. I'll still shoot mirrorless when I want to travel light or be inconspicuous, but I'm not so die-hard about it that I've written DSLRs off completely. In my opinion it's a different experience, and depending on what you want to achieve, I prefer one or the other. But that's just my opinion, and I know some people wold disagree with that somewhat strongly!

Anyway, here are some more images from the morning. Enjoy.

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